TV series pays tribute to scout heroes

While attending a live call-in television show, actor Luo Jin heard a voice asking him if he had ever portrayed a soldier. Luo, a veteran with a career spanning over two decades, instantly replied with a“yes”. He didn’t realize that the question came from Zheng Xiaolong, one of the most renowned directors in China’s TV industry.

This seemingly insignificant moment led to him starring in Scout Hero, a 32-episode TV series about a team of heroic scouts who risked their lives to collect information during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), revealed Luo during a recent seminar held in Beijing.

Launched near the end of 2021, the TV series took one year to pen and polish the script and was filmed between March 6 and July 17 of last year in Chengde, Hebei province.

Director Zheng said he and fellow creators have endeavored to find a fresh perspective of the war, though it has been retold on television screens in many dramas.

To ensure the historical authenticity, Zheng and director Liu Gejian, who have been friends since childhood, conducted extensive research and arranged for the cast members to undergo military training prior to filming.

Luo, who had also participated the harsh training, recalled that he went to the filming set in Chengde in February, more than one month earlier than the shoot.

Despite the fact that the wilderness in the city’s suburbs was still covered with snow, Luo and his fellow actors were required to follow a high-intensity schedule under the guidance of a military instructor, learning standard gun-holding gestures, including squatting, standing, and lying down.

“During the months of being Liang Chen (the protagonist), I felt like I was truly on the battlefield when the prop shell‘exploded’by my ear and when I felt the scorching heat of‘casings’falling into my collar,”recalled Luo emotionally.